As part of June’s ‘Festival of Learning

As part of June’s ‘Festival of Learning’, Aegis members and work colleagues at Yorkshire Drive and Lynch Wood have been learning some potentially life-saving skills thanks to Learn with Aegis.

In Yorkshire Drive, ‘Simple Skills Save Lives’ courses were run by Heartstart Dewsbury, part of the British Heart Foundation’s network of training centres. They covered practical, ‘how to’ advice and training on the recovery position, CPR (heart massage), suspected heart attack, choking and severe bleeding.

It was all a bit of a whizz through in two hours, but those attending learnt some very valuable skills, and at the end everyone was given a certificate to prove they’d completed the emergency life support.

Staff attending have been very positive about the sessions.

Sarah Roberts, who works in Mortgage Underwriting, said:

I’m a first aider, but needed a refresher as it was scary to think that it someone collapsed, for example, it’d be up to me to act. The course has given me more confidence and more knowledge – it was really good."

Matthew Coxfrom Marketing added:

I do a lot of sport so if something happened, I’d like to think that I’d be able to help others if I ever needed to. Plus, my daughter had a choking attack a few years ago. We cleared it, but it was more by luck than knowledge.

I’m now much more confident and think I’d be able to provide useful assistance – rather than running a mile or making it up!"

Sharon Croftis from the Customer Contact Centre, and said:

I had no first aid training at all, so this was a great opportunity to learn some basic skills. I’ve got two young children and you never know when those skills might be needed.

The course was really useful – I now know that, if I was ever in that situation, I’d be confident to give it a go."

Julie Thompsonis currently seconded to Learn with Aegis as a Project Worker and knew the course would be of interest.

Coming from Branch Performance, we’d had first aid incidents in branches over the years and through working for Learn with Aegis many colleagues had expressed an interest in first aid courses.

That meant there was both a need and an interest in these potentially life-saving skills. We’ve already arranged courses for our Wakefield, Preston and Wolverhampton branches that had received positive feedback, so - as part of our ‘Festival of Learning’ activities- we decided to try them out in two office sites."

Julie and Learn with Aegis are keen to run more courses like this and are exploring ways to make it happen in other office sites.